This is a well written story from "The Deal Magazine" about the "C" radio companies and what the future might hold for them. Click: HERE
George
Media Services Group
George
Media Services Group
Showing posts with label Citadel Broadcasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Citadel Broadcasting. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
New York Times article: Static on the Citadel Radio Dial
The New York Times published a piece over the weekend on the Citadel/Cumulus deal:
"EXECUTIVES who run public companies, and the directors who oversee them, are supposed to operate with the shareholders’ best interests at heart. If a capitalist society like ours is to function, that has to be a bedrock principle."
Check it out HERE.
George
Media Services Group
"EXECUTIVES who run public companies, and the directors who oversee them, are supposed to operate with the shareholders’ best interests at heart. If a capitalist society like ours is to function, that has to be a bedrock principle."
Check it out HERE.
George
Media Services Group
Friday, December 17, 2010
Lew Dickey removed from Farid's Christmas card list
The news today that Citadel has rejected two offers from Lew's Cumulus Media certainly breaths some new life into what has been a very slow station trading year. It also represents the opening act to what will be a fascinating show.
Lew Dickey has plenty of fans as well as detractors. And I’m squarely in the camp of the former. Yes, he’s been a great customer over the years (he bought over a hundred stations through Media Services Group), but there is more to it than that.
Lew is a broadcaster. He was literally raised in the business. He has seen it from all sides (and is probably one of the best researchers ever to serve the industry -- pre-Cumulus). He knows how to run a radio station and is as comfortable doing so in Atlanta sized markets as he is in Savannah sized markets.
And he’s smart. Not just well educated (B.A. from Stanford and MBA from Harvard), but radio street-smart. If he succeeds in his effort to acquire Citadel, he will know what to do with it and how best to integrate the two very different cultures.
I believe that Lew has had his eye on Citadel for a long time. And now that it has emerged from bankruptcy court with a squeaky clean balance sheet, and station prices are at a decade’s low level, what better time?
Plus, Lew never took my stock in his company to zero.
The drama will be fun to watch. If Lew is successful, look for some new station acquisition opportunities in the new year. For one thing, the deal will likely require some spin-offs (in markets where both companies compete). For another, transactions like this have a way of fostering new, unrelated deals. They establish a pricing comparable. Potential buyers and sellers will pay close attention to the multiple on the deal.
Last but not least, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Let’s have a prosperous 2011.
George
Media Services Group
Lew Dickey has plenty of fans as well as detractors. And I’m squarely in the camp of the former. Yes, he’s been a great customer over the years (he bought over a hundred stations through Media Services Group), but there is more to it than that.
Lew is a broadcaster. He was literally raised in the business. He has seen it from all sides (and is probably one of the best researchers ever to serve the industry -- pre-Cumulus). He knows how to run a radio station and is as comfortable doing so in Atlanta sized markets as he is in Savannah sized markets.
And he’s smart. Not just well educated (B.A. from Stanford and MBA from Harvard), but radio street-smart. If he succeeds in his effort to acquire Citadel, he will know what to do with it and how best to integrate the two very different cultures.
I believe that Lew has had his eye on Citadel for a long time. And now that it has emerged from bankruptcy court with a squeaky clean balance sheet, and station prices are at a decade’s low level, what better time?
Plus, Lew never took my stock in his company to zero.
The drama will be fun to watch. If Lew is successful, look for some new station acquisition opportunities in the new year. For one thing, the deal will likely require some spin-offs (in markets where both companies compete). For another, transactions like this have a way of fostering new, unrelated deals. They establish a pricing comparable. Potential buyers and sellers will pay close attention to the multiple on the deal.
Last but not least, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Let’s have a prosperous 2011.
George
Media Services Group
Monday, December 28, 2009
What Citadel could have done
It is easy to be a "Monday Morning Quarterback." And yes, hindsight is 20-20. But there are steps which Citadel could have taken after the ABC deal closed but before the credit market tanked. They could/should have:
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
George
Media Services Group
- Sold off the network/syndication business. That would have raised a pile of cash and allowed management to focus on running the radio business.
- Bundled their tower assets and sold them as a package to a tower consolidator. Towers were trading a significantly higher multiples than radio stations during that time (and still are).
- Drawn a line at market # 50, and sold all of their smaller markets to entrepreneurs (who were lined up to buy at the time). Not unlike CBS, Citadel's core competencies are best suited to major market operations.
- Negotiated a debt for equity swap with their lenders, conditioned upon (and priced based upon) all of the above occuring.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
George
Media Services Group
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Citadel files Chapter 11
According to Inside Radio, Citadel has filed a "prearranged" Chapter 11 reorganization plan with a New York bankruptcy court. Their full story is here:
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